TransActions – July/August 2016

Utilities are Toughening Up to Improve Resiliency in the Face of Emergencies

Electric utilities are most often judged by their consumers based upon two criteria; (1) the cost of the commodity and (2) ability of the utility to reliably deliver the commodity. Utility reliability is measured in terms of System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI). These indices are defined by IEEE standards and allow comparison of reliability levels for utilities within the United States or by region. In fact, many regulators have reliability standards that regulated utilities must meet with an impetus for the utilities to be in the top quartile of service reliability.

The Key to Maximizing the Value of Your Own Transmission System

Have you ever noticed when automobile advertisers are touting their latest and newest toys, much is made of the monthly lease payments but rarely do you hear about the actual cost of the car were you to buy it outright? At the end of the lease, you had the privilege of driving the vehicle, but you never actually “owned” the car. Transitioning that concept to transmission, many load serving or transmission dependent customers have been paying for transmission facilities owned by incumbent transmission providers for decades through grandfathered agreements and the Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) for the privilege of driving across those wires but never owning any assets.

Request for Proposals

GDS offers expertise in the management of resource solicitation projects and the evaluation of sales proposals. From production and release of the solicitation, to final contract negotiation, we have managed dozens of national solicitations resulting in substantial long-term power cost savings.